A three-member inter-State criminal gang was arrested by the Visakhapatnam city police and Rs.5 lakh cash and a car were recovered from them.
The modus operandi of the gang is to keep a watch on customers, who draw huge cash from banks, and follow them in a car.
If the customer parks his/her vehicle on the way to attend some work, they steal the cash bag left behind in the car, Police Commissioner J. Purnachandra Rao told a media conference in Visakhapatnam on Saturday.
It may be recalled that M. Vasanta Rao, a supervisor in the PSI Company at Pendurthy, withdrew Rs.8.5 lakhs from the ICICI Bank branch at Ramnagar on September 8. He kept the cash bag in his car, and on his way back to the company, he went to the Sankar Foundation Eye Hospital at Naiduthota to see his mother, who underwent an eye surgery.
He came out in 10 minutes and found the cash bag missing.
He immediately informed the Pendurthy police. Inspector Sk. Hussain, SI B. Suresh and their team visited Hyderabad and Bangalore and collected valuable information about the accused.
The investigation team arrested the accused and recovered Rs.5 lakh and a car bearing a fake registration number from them.
The accused arrested were Sayyed Wasif of Bengaluru and Mohammed Dawood Ahammed Khan and Mohammed Farheemuddin, both hailing from Hyderabad.
Mr. Purnachandra Rao said that Wasif was involved in 12 car theft cases in Mumbai during 2008, two robberies in Hyderabad during 2006 and 2009 and theft or Rs.4 lakhs from a car under Alipiri Police Station in 2011.
Dawood Khan was wanted by the Hyderabad and the Tirupathi Police in one case each and Faheemuddin was involved in one murder case and a double murder case in Hyderabad during 2009 and 2006 respectively.
All the three were involved in the theft of an SUV in Nagpur in January 2011 and changed the original number plate to commit various offences and theft of cash from a car in Khammam in May 2012.
Assistant Commissioner of Police (North) B. Prasada Rao was present at the press conference.
